Organizing tips for a stress free move Part 1 of 2

ORGANIZING TIPS FOR A STRESS FREE MOVE

Part 1: Organizing Before the Move

These top 10 moving tips made our move so much more of a breeze and so much less stressful for our family.

GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES

· Tape Gun with Extra Packing Tape

· Large Heavy Duty Garbage Bags

· Regular White Garbage Bags (For Clothes)

· Moving Boxes

· Packing Paper

· Sharpies

· Dolly (A must when moving stacks of boxes and large furniture into the truck or POD)

DECLUTTER AND PURGE

This was a lifesaver for me! When we decided to sell our home, I knew I wanted to start decluttering and purging right away.

We wanted to set up our home to look very spacious and open so potential buyers could walk in and envision their own family living there.

I wanted to be sure to purge each room in the house and I decided to start with the easiest first. The bathroom.

I had two large garbage bags and a box available for each room I tackled. One bag to donate, one bag for items that I wanted to sell, and a box that I packed items that I would not be using before the move.

This helped to declutter AND purge each space regardless if I was tossing, giving away, selling, or packing the items away.

No matter if you choose a weekend or a few hours during each week, DO NOT skip this step as it makes a HUGE difference. This step prevents so much stress of having to declutter and purge once your house sells.

I also found that I was less stressed because I wasn’t rushing around shoving things in boxes that I would never use again.

Don’t forget:

Once your donation bags are filled and they are ready to take to your favorite charity, be sure to take them directly to your car so you can drop them off right away instead of letting them clutter up your garage. Procrastination is never the answer

Also, this is a good time to pick a date to have your yard sale. You can also begin listing bigger ticket items on Craigslist or a local swap in your area to get extra cash in your pocket for moving expenses.

IT’S TIME TO PACK IT UP!

Yay! The house sold and you have a closing date. It is time to start packing the rest of the house.

Having Tips 1 and 2 already completed made it so much easier to move forward. Our moving supplies were on hand and we had done so much of the work already during our decluttering and purging step.

Now, the first items to pack is all of your decor in every room. This includs picture frames, art work, wall hangings, etc.

These items tend to be more difficult to pack because of their sizes and shapes. It really clears each room out significantly leaving space to allow for easier packing.

Note: The decor boxes were unpacked last at the new house so everything else was in place before we started redecorating the rooms. Switching up the decor in different rooms actually made me feel like I had new stuff!

PLASTIC BIN FOR FIRST DAY ESSENTIALS

I wanted to be sure that the week before we moved we had all the essentials on hand since most of the house would be in boxes.

Starting with a plastic bin, I packed paper plates and cups, napkins and paper towels, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, towels to shower with, etc. You will not want to have to deal with washing dishes that week or searching for a towel.

This plastic bin went in the car to the new house on the day of the move so it wouldn’t get lost with all the boxes.

PACK YOUR SUITCASE

Another awesome idea I found was to have everyone in the family pack a suitcase as if they were going away for the weekend.

This allowed everyone to have several changes of clothes, toiletries, phone chargers, medications/vitamins, a favorite toy or blanket, etc.

This prevented us from having to dig through boxes looking for these items on the first day in the new house.

Be sure to put these items in the car and not the truck on moving day along with your purse, lunch boxes, and school backpacks, etc.

LABELING BOXES

This step is Oh so important!

To make it easier, be sure to write on each box the room the items were packed from instead of what is in it. This really helped our friends that were lending a hand know what room to put each box in.

Extra Tip: Since our kitchen had so much stuff, we labeled a box Kitchen #1 for the items we used everyday, Kitchen #2 for items that were used a few times a month, and Kitchen #3 for items that we only used on special occasions.

This really helped the first week in the new house when we wanted to unpack our coffee pot and daily dishes. We didn’t have to open all the kitchen boxes to find them.

STORING YOUR PACKED BOXES PRE-MOVE

Pick a room or find a closet or corner to start piling your packed boxes as you get them done.

Fortunately, we had a large closet that we we put our boxes in until move day.

This was awesome and made the weeks before the move much less stressful as we were able to get things packed a little at a time.

(Keep reading next week, February 28, for Part 2: Moving Day!)